Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bulganin was
born in Nizhni Novgorod (now Gorky), on June 11, 1895.
The son of a well-to-do white-collar worker, he was
educated in private schools. He joined the Bolshevik
(Communist) Party in 1917, and served in a number of
major party posts over the next four decades.

As an officer in the Cheka, the
forerunner of the KGB, from 1918 to 1922, Bulganin
received criticism from within the party for his
brutality. In 1922, he became a member of the National
Economic Council, which was charged with planning and
directing the Soviet economy. In 1927 he was given
control over a major electrical components factory, in
which position he completed his assigned Five Year Plan
in less than three years. As Chairman of the Moscow City
Soviet (Mayor) from 1931 to 1937, Bulganin oversaw
construction of the Moscow Metro, as well as
implementation of many of Stalin's major urbanization
projects. Bulganin's reputation as a more-than-capable
administrator helped him survive Stalin's purges and, in
1937, he was appointed Premier of the Russian Republic.
In 1938 he was promoted to Deputy Premier of the Soviet
Union, a position he held until 1941. During this period
he also held the position of chairman of the State Bank.

Although he wasn't a military man,
Bulganin did political work in the Red Army during World War II, first as
principal party administrator for the Western front, and
later as chairman of the State Defense Committee. He was
made Deputy Commissar for Defense and Deputy Chairman of
the Council of Ministers in 1944, and served as Minister
of Armed Forces and Marshal of the Soviet Union from 1947
to 1949. He became Vice-Premier of the Soviet Union in
1949, and Minister of Defense in 1953.

When Stalin died in 1953, Bulganin
joined forces with Nikita Khrushchev
against Stalin's hand-picked successor, Georgi Malenkov,
and KGB Chief Lavrenti Beria. Bulganin became Premier in
1955, but Khrushchev, now head of the Communist Party,
held most of the true power. Although always in
Khrushchev's shadow, Bulganin soon became known as the
Soviet Union's leading exponent of peaceful coexistence
and better relations with the West. In January 1956, he
sent a letter to U.S. President Eisenhower
urging an end to nuclear tests and proposing a treaty of
friendship (Eisenhower rejected the proposed treaty,
however, saying that the agreements suggested by Bulganin
were already covered by the United Nations Charter).

In June 1957, Khrushchev's
de-Stalinization campaign and efforts to stimulate rapid
industrial growth by introducing a number of rapid-fire
domestic reforms led to the formation of an opposition
bloc in the Politburo. Although he personally supported
Khrushchev's policies, Bulganin felt bound to side with
the majority, and the decision to replace Khrushchev was
made in his office. Khrushchev refused to leave office,
however, and, in March 1958, removed Bulganin and assumed
the office of Premier himself.

Bulganin was initially demoted to head
of the State Bank. In August 1958, he was transferred to
a minor economic post at Stravopol. In February 1960,
Bulganin's request that he be allowed to retire was
granted. In gradually failing health, he spent the
remainder of his life as a pensioner in a small dacha
outside Moscow. He died in Moscow on March 1, 1975.